Sam Caulder

Luke Keaschall was supposed to be a key contributor for the Twins. Instead, two-and-a-half months of struggles have left the Twins facing a difficult decision they may no longer be able to avoid. View full video

A year ago, Kody Clemens looked like organizational depth. Now he's become one of the Twins' most attractive trade assets heading into deadline season. View full video

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images Kody Clemens has been one of the Twins' most unexpected success stories this season. When Minnesota acquired him last spring, expectations were modest. Clemens had bounced around organizations, never establishing himself as an everyday major leaguer, and he looked more like a depth piece than someone who would become a key contributor in the middle of a lineup. Fast-forward to June 2026, and he's become exactly that. He’s hitting .247 with a .785 OPS, and the numbers suggest his breakout is legitimate. In fact, the underlying data paints an even better picture than his traditional statistics. His average exit velocity sits at 92.5 MPH, placing him in the top decile among major-league hitters. Among Twins hitters, only Byron Buxton owns a higher hard-hit rate than Clemens's impressive 44.2% mark. Overall, he's among the top quartile of big-league batters, generating 7 runs above average with his offensive production. He’s been playing his best baseball recently, too. Since the beginning of May, Clemens is hitting .270, with 17 extra-base hits across 30 games. His OPS during that stretch sits at an excellent .857, and his 135 wRC+ indicates he's been 35 percent better than average offensively. As a result, he's worked his way into the No. 3 spot in Minnesota's batting order. But what's made Clemens particularly valuable isn't just the bat. He's also shown significant defensive versatility. While first base remains his primary position, the Twins have increasingly used him across the outfield over the last month. He's appeared in left field in seven games and right field in five games. More notably, he's even spent time in center field. With Byron Buxton dealing with various bumps and bruises recently, Clemens and James Outman were splitting center field opportunities. That's not something many would have predicted when the season began. He can also handle second base, giving Minnesota flexibility all over the diamond. And when he's on the field, he's been an above-average defender. The point here is simple: Clemens has been very good. He's been productive at the plate, he's been versatile in the field, and he's become one of the Twins' most valuable everyday players. Which is exactly why Minnesota should seriously consider trading him. At first glance, that might sound counterintuitive. Why would a struggling team move one of its better players? The answer comes down to timing. Clemens recently turned 30 years old. While he's having the best year of his career, the Twins appear unlikely to emerge as serious contenders in 2026. By the time Minnesota realistically expects to compete again, the odds are high that Clemens won't be producing at this level. That doesn't diminish what he's accomplished this year. It simply creates an opportunity. While Clemens probably wouldn't hit third for many contending teams, he absolutely fits the profile of a player contenders seek at the trade deadline. He's a left-handed power hitter who can play multiple infield spots, he can move around the outfield, and he's producing offensively. He doesn't just hit the ball hard. he lifts it enough to do damage, as evidenced by his .626 slugging average on contact (SLGCON). Those players tend to attract interest. While several teams could use someone with Clemens’s skill set, a couple stand out in my mind: the Padres and Diamondbacks. Not coincidentally, both teams reside in the NL West and currently find themselves chasing the Dodgers in the division race. They're in similar positions, trying to close the gap and/or hold onto position in the Wild Card chase while addressing roster weaknesses ahead of the trade deadline. Both lineups lean heavily right-handed. Neither has gotten a significant amount of extra-base production from the bottom half of its order, and both clubs could benefit from an upgrade in left field while also utilizing Clemens's versatility on the infield dirt. It's easy to envision him fitting into either roster. That doesn't mean the Twins should expect a massive return package. Clemens is having a career season, but he's also a 30-year-old player without an extensive track record of this level of production. Teams generally aren't surrendering elite prospects for that profile. A top-100 prospect return feels unrealistic. At the same time, Clemens has more value than a typical rental player. He still has two additional years of team control after this season; he won't reach free agency until the end of the 2028 season. That extra control gives acquiring teams multiple years to benefit from his production, rather than a few months. That should meaningfully increase his trade value. He should command at least what the Twins got for Willi Castro last summer, and Castro netted them a solid pitching prospect. If Minnesota were sitting atop the division standings and positioning itself for a playoff run, the conversation would be different. In that scenario, Clemens is exactly the type of versatile contributor you'd want to keep around for October. But that's not where the Twins are. Instead, they're a team that needs to maximize assets wherever possible, and right now, Kody Clemens may represent one of their best opportunities to do exactly that. He's playing the best baseball of his career, his value is likely at its highest point, and contenders around the league have clear reasons to be interested. Sometimes the smartest move isn't holding onto a breakout player; it's recognizing the perfect time to strike while the iron is hot. View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images For the first month of the season, Taj Bradley looked like a legitimate ace. The Twins' right-hander was outperforming Joe Ryan, posting dominant stat lines in every start, and looking every bit like the frontline starter Minnesota believed he could be when they traded for him last summer. Through his first five starts, Bradley carried a sparkling 1.63 ERA. Three of those outings were quality starts, he was generating whiffs at an elite rate, and opposing hitters looked completely overmatched. At the time, it felt like the Twins may have fleeced the Rays. And that still might end up being true. But over his last six starts, Bradley has looked like an entirely different pitcher. Across 33 innings during that stretch, he's allowed 19 earned runs on 30 hits and 16 walks. His ERA has climbed from 1.63 to 3.56, and nearly every meaningful trend has moved in the wrong direction. The biggest reason for that decline isn't bad luck. It's command. Only 46.7% of all pitches Bradley has thrown this year have landed in the strike zone. On its own, that number isn't necessarily alarming. Plenty of successful pitchers live outside the strike zone and rely on hitters chasing pitches they can't drive. The problem is that Bradley doesn't generate enough chase to make that approach work. Too many of his misses aren't competitive and end up nowhere near the strike zone. Just in his most recent start on Wednesday, multiple splitters were nearly missed by catcher Victor Caratini because they were so high. That's not an isolated occurrence either. Similar misses have shown up throughout the season. There have also been several splitters and cutters that have bounced well in front of the plate, as well as too many fastballs that finish at a hitter’s eyes. Over that six-start stretch, his BBs/9 is up at 4.4, which is a full walk higher than his career average. In addition, the three starts he's made since returning from the IL in late May have been especially worrisome. Over a combined 13 2/3 innings, he's issued nine free passes. At times, it almost looks like Bradley doesn't know where the ball is going out of his hand, and that's not something that's popped up recently. That's been an issue plaguing him throughout the season, and his results are suffering as a result. When a pitcher consistently misses by that much, he inevitably falls behind in counts. And once that starts happening, everything becomes more difficult. Hitters become more selective, pitchers are forced to throw strikes in predictable situations, and mistakes become far more costly. That's exactly what has happened to Bradley over the last month and a half. While the raw hit totals aren't especially concerning, the quality of contact he's allowing has become a major problem. His home run rate over the last six starts has jumped to 1.6 HR/9 after not allowing a single homer through his first five appearances of the season. It’s hard to believe that’s just a coincidence. When pitchers constantly find themselves in 2-0 and 3-0 counts, they eventually have to come back over the plate. Major league hitters know it, and they're more than capable of punishing mistakes when they're sitting on a fastball in a hitter's count. The underlying metrics support that idea. Bradley ranks in the 16th percentile among major-league pitchers in hard-hit rate, and the 6th percentile for average exit velocity allowed. His barrel rate and ground ball rate aren't much better. Once again, it all traces back to command. And it’s unfortunate, because the stuff itself remains outstanding. Bradley throws hard, and his pitches still move very well. When he's locating them properly, hitters rarely do much damage against him. That's what makes this stretch so frustrating. The raw talent is obvious. The ingredients that made him look like an ace in April haven't disappeared. But the command has. There may also be a pitch-mix component worth discussing. Roughly 89% of Bradley's arsenal sits between 91 and 97 miles per hour, with his four-seam fastball, splitter, and cutter. That by itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and all three pitches move differently. But it’s a very small margin for error when they’re not landing over the plate. He'll mix in a curveball occasionally, but it's not a major part of his game plan. That leaves hitters seeing a lot of pitches with similar velocity profiles throughout an at-bat. Adding a slider or sweeper could potentially help. Not only would it create a larger speed gap, but it would also give him another glove-side offering that moves differently than the rest of his arsenal, especially since his curveball is very up-and-down with little horizontal movement. Would that solve all of the problems? Probably not, and that would more likely than not be an offseason adjustment regardless. But even if the Twins introduced another pitch tomorrow, Bradley would still need to locate it. The command issue remains the biggest obstacle standing between him and becoming the pitcher he looked like during the season's first month. The solution isn't necessarily complicated, even if executing it is. Bradley has to throw more strikes. There have simply been too many hitter-friendly counts, too many free passes, and too many wasted pitches that force him into disadvantageous situations. If that means sacrificing a mile per hour of velocity, it may be worth considering. His splitter and cutter are already good enough to generate whiffs when they're located properly. The focus should be on getting ahead in counts, working at the bottom of the strike zone with those secondaries, and forcing hitters to react to him instead of the other way around. If he can do that, the results should follow. Bradley hasn’t lost his ability to pitch. Even with his struggles recently, there have still been outings where he looks dominant. His first two starts in May were exactly that, combining for just three earned runs over 11 innings with 15 strikeouts to four walks. We know how talented he is. But none of that matters if you can’t find the strike zone. Regardless of how good the stuff is or how hard he throws; there’s a reason the position is called a “pitcher” and not a “thrower.” View full article

Image courtesy of © Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images Box Score Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan - 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K (102 pitches, 66 strikes (65% strikes)) Home Runs: Orlando Arcia Bottom 3 WPA: Eric Orze (-0.63), Josh Bell (-0.24), Royce Lewis (-0.21) Win Probability Chart The Twins entered Saturday afternoon's matchup against the Royals looking to secure at least a series split before Sunday's finale. Earlier in the day, they welcomed Royce Lewis back from Triple-A St. Paul after a dominant stretch with the Saints, inserting him into the lineup for his second-ever major league start at second base. With Byron Buxton unavailable after leaving Friday night's game with a shoulder contusion, Minnesota needed someone else to step up offensively. Instead, another frustrating one-run loss slipped away in the late innings. The Twins received six strong innings from Joe Ryan and got a clutch performance from Orlando Arcia off the bench, but a costly mistake in the ninth inning helped Kansas City rally for a 3-2 victory at Target Field. The loss dropped Minnesota to another frustrating defeat in a game that was there for the taking. JOE RYAN SETTLES IN AFTER EARLY HOMER The afternoon could not have started much worse for Joe Ryan. On the third pitch of the game, Carter Jensen jumped on a two-strike curveball and launched it over the wall for his eighth home run of the season, giving Kansas City a quick 1-0 lead. Ryan's first inning was laborious, requiring 21 pitches and featuring another two-strike hit by Vinnie Pasquantino. It looked like the Royals might be in for another productive afternoon against the Twins' ace. Instead, Ryan gradually found his rhythm. After an eight-pitch second inning, he recorded the 800th strikeout of his major league career when he punched out Kyle Isbel in the third. He continued to work efficiently through the middle innings, retiring nine of ten hitters at one point and giving Minnesota exactly the kind of stabilizing outing it needed. The biggest test came in the sixth. Pasquantino opened the inning with a single, and a bloop hit by Lane Thomas later put runners on first and second with one out. After Michael Massey flew out, Ryan walked Isaac Collins to load the bases and bring the go-ahead run into scoring position. With the game hanging in the balance, Josh Rojas grounded a ball right back to the mound. Ryan calmly fielded it and flipped to first, escaping the jam and preserving the tie. Despite throwing 25 pitches in the inning, Ryan completed six innings on 102 pitches while allowing just one run. It marked the fourth time in his last six starts that he has worked six innings while allowing just one run. THE TWINS FINALLY BREAK THROUGH For much of the afternoon, Minnesota's offense had no answers for Royals starter Luinder Avila. The Twins managed just one baserunner through the first four innings and didn't record their first hit until Austin Martin lined a single into right-center field to lead off the fifth. That hit finally sparked some life. Victor Caratini followed with a double off the wall in right-center, putting runners on second and third. Royce Lewis showed some patience by working a walk to load the bases. Tristan Gray delivered the Twins' first run of the afternoon with a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Martin and tied the game at one. Unfortunately for Minnesota, that would be the only damage they could do after loading the bases, as Ryan Kreidler would ground into an inning-ending double play. The game remained deadlocked until the eighth inning, when manager Derek Shelton elected to hit Orlando Arcia for Trevor Larnach against left-hander Matt Strahm. The move paid off immediately. Arcia got a 2-2 fastball on the outer third of the plate and drove it into the left-field seats for his first home run as a Twin, breaking the 1-1 tie and giving Minnesota a 2-1 lead with just six outs remaining. After struggling to generate offense all afternoon, it appeared the Twins had finally found the decisive swing. A COSTLY NINTH-INNING MISTAKE Taylor Rogers and Yoendrys Gómez combined for two scoreless innings after Ryan exited, putting Minnesota in position to hand the ball to Eric Orze in the ninth. Things unraveled quickly. Collins opened the inning with a single, and Tyler Tolbert entered as a pinch-runner. Tolbert immediately stole second base on the first pitch of Rojas' at-bat, putting the tying run in scoring position with nobody out. Moments later came the turning point, when Rojas hit a routine ground ball back to Orze. Rather than taking the sure out at first base, Orze attempted to throw behind Tolbert at second. The play failed, leaving runners at first and second with nobody out and giving Kansas City a golden opportunity. The Royals took full advantage. Isbel successfully bunted both runners into scoring position, and Jensen followed with a sacrifice fly to right field that tied the game at two. With the go-ahead run still at second, Bobby Witt Jr. lined a ball over Arcia's head in left field. Rojas raced home ahead of Kody Clemens' relay throw, giving Kansas City a 3-2 lead. What likely should have been one out and a runner on second instead became a rally that flipped the game. The decision not to take the easy out at first base proved incredibly costly. ONE LAST CHANCE FALLS SHORT Minnesota didn't go quietly in the bottom of the ninth. Clemens led off the inning with a double off the wall in right field, immediately putting the tying run in scoring position. After Josh Bell struck out and Martin went down swinging, the Twins appeared to be running out of opportunities. Caratini kept the inning alive when he was hit by a pitch, bringing Lewis to the plate as the potential hero. The crowd buzzed as Lewis worked the count full, but Alex Lange finished the at-bat with a front-door cutter that caught the inside corner for strike three. Lewis stood frozen, and the game was over. For a Twins team that received a quality start from Ryan, got a clutch home run from Arcia, and held a lead entering the ninth inning, the loss was particularly difficult to swallow. In a game where offense was scarce and every out carried extra importance, one failed decision on a routine ground ball ultimately proved to be the difference. What’s Next? The Twins and Royals conclude their four-game set tomorrow afternoon, with another 1:10 PM first-pitch. We’ve got a battle of lefties tomorrow, as it’ll be Connor Prielipp for the Twins and Noah Cameron for Kansas City. Postgame Interviews Coming Soon! Bullpen Availability Chart View full article

While Taj Bradley has looked like a front-line starter at times this season, some clear issues are holding him back from reaching his full potential. View full video

Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Connor Prielipp’s last three starts have not been encouraging. Before taking the mound on May 22, the Twins' rookie looked like one of the biggest bright spots in their rotation. Through his first handful of major league starts, he carried an ERA below 3.00, was striking out more than a batter per inning, and looked every bit like a pitcher capable of settling into the top half of a big-league rotation. Since then, however, the results have gone in the opposite direction. Over his last three outings, Prielipp has allowed 15 earned runs in 14 1/3 innings while posting a 13-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The dominance that was present during the first month of his major league career simply has not been there. As a result, his season ERA has climbed to 5.26, his WHIP now sits at 1.35, and he’s averaging less than five innings per start. That naturally leads to a pretty straightforward question: Is it time to worry about Connor Prielipp? There are reasonable arguments on both sides. On one hand, it’s hard to ignore how impressive he looked during his first several starts. His stuff was electric, hitters struggled to square him up, and he consistently generated swings and misses. On the other hand, the recent stat lines are impossible to completely dismiss. More earned runs than innings pitched is ugly no matter how you slice it. The strikeout numbers have come down, the walks have increased and opposing offenses have found far more success against him than they did earlier in the season. Still, after digging a little deeper into the numbers, it’s hard to come away believing that Prielipp is pitching nearly as poorly as his recent results suggest. In fact, there’s a strong case that bad luck has played a significant role in his struggles. To be fair, everything hasn’t been perfect. His swing-and-miss numbers have dipped, and the command hasn’t been quite as sharp as it was during his first month in the majors. You’d certainly like to see fewer walks, and there are areas of his game that need to improve. But overall, the underlying indicators paint a much more encouraging picture than the surface-level statistics. The biggest reason for that optimism is the quality of contact he has allowed. Earlier in the season, hard contact was arguably Prielipp’s biggest issue. While he was still producing strong results, hitters were barreling baseballs at a relatively high rate when they did make contact. Through his first 24 innings, he surrendered four home runs, and those long balls accounted for much of the damage against him. Ironically, the exact opposite has happened during his recent rough stretch. Over his last three starts, Prielipp has allowed 21 hits, yet none of them have left the ballpark. Even more telling is the quality of those hits. His hard-hit rate during that span sits below 30 percent, which is an extremely impressive number. Generally speaking, pitchers who are limiting hard contact at that level should not be giving up hits in bunches. While not every softly hit ball turns into an out, a hard-hit rate that low suggests hitters have not been consistently squaring him up. That’s what makes the recent results somewhat misleading. When a pitcher is allowing weak contact but still getting burned by a high volume of hits, there’s often an element of poor fortune involved. Ground balls find holes, soft line drives fall between defenders, and bloopers drop into shallow outfield grass. Those things happen over the course of a season. The problem is that when several of them happen in a short period of time, the box scores can look much worse than the actual performance. But there’s another factor worth monitoring as well. Prielipp has started relying less on his breaking balls. Earlier in the year, his slider and curveball combined for over 60 percent of his pitch usage. More recently, that number has dropped to around 48 percent. To some extent, the reasoning would be understandable. Prielipp has dealt with more than his share of arm injuries throughout his career, and breaking balls are known for being taxing on an elbow. If the Twins are attempting to reduce stress on his arm by slightly altering his pitch mix, there could be logic behind the decision. At the same time, those breaking pitches are his bread and butter. They’re his best swing-and-miss offerings and help make the rest of his arsenal more effective. When hitters have to respect both the slider and curveball, his fastball plays up considerably. It would be interesting to see the Twins gradually increase that usage again. Not enough to create durability concerns, but even a small bump back toward where it was earlier in the season could help him regain some of the whiffs that have disappeared over the last few weeks. At the end of the day, Prielipp hasn’t been flawless. The command could be better, the strikeout numbers could be higher, and the walks need to come down. Those are legitimate concerns. But the overall picture is far less alarming than a glance at his ERA might suggest. The underlying metrics indicate a pitcher who is still limiting hard contact at an impressive rate. The recent hit totals appear somewhat inflated by factors outside of his control, and there are still plenty of signs that the talent that made him so successful earlier in the year remains intact. Because of that, it feels premature to sound the alarm. Connor Prielipp’s last three starts have undoubtedly been frustrating, but they look much more like a temporary bump in the road than the beginning of a larger problem. The Twins still appear to have a talented major league starter on their hands. And if the quality of contact remains this strong, there’s a good chance the results will start reflecting that again sooner rather than later. View full article

Connor Prielipp has shown flashes of a quality starting pitcher in the majors, but his most recent starts stand out for the wrong reasons. Is this nothing more than a bump in the road, or a legitimate cause for concern? View full video

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images Box Score SP: Andrew Morris - 2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K (48 pitches, 32 strikes (67% strikes)) Home Runs: Byron Buxton, Kody Clemens (2), Victor Caratini Bottom 3 WPA: Anthony Banda (-0.39), Brooks Lee (-0.19), Justin Lawrence (-0.19) Win Probability Chart (vis Baseball Savant) The Twins opened a four-game series against the Royals on Thursday night, looking to build some momentum after taking two of three from the White Sox earlier in the week. Instead, a game filled with lead changes, defensive miscues, and missed opportunities slipped away late. Minnesota erased multiple deficits and got big offensive performances from Kody Clemens and Victor Caratini, but a disastrous ninth inning proved too much to overcome in an 8-6 loss to Kansas City at Target Field. The defeat dropped the Twins to 29-35 on the season. CLEMENS AND CARATINI KEEP THE TWINS IN THE FIGHT After Andrew Morris allowed a first-inning sacrifice fly by Salvador Perez to give the Royals a 1-0 lead, Byron Buxton immediately tied the game in the bottom half of the inning. Buxton crushed a Seth Lugo sinker 430 feet into the Twins bullpen for his 18th home run of the season, continuing what has been one of the best offensive stretches of his career. Minnesota answered again in the second after Kansas City reclaimed the lead. Victor Caratini lined a double to straightaway center field that scored Luke Keaschall and tied the game at 2-2. The offense continued to deliver throughout the middle innings. Kody Clemens gave the Twins their first lead of the night in the third, when he launched a first-pitch curveball over the scoreboard in right-center field. The 414-foot blast was his seventh home run of the season and made him the first left-handed hitter to homer off Lugo all year. After Michael Massey tied the game with a solo homer in the fourth, Minnesota answered once again. Trevor Larnach singled to open the inning and eventually scored when Ryan Kreidler ripped a triple into the left-center field gap, putting the Twins back on top 4-3. Clemens wasn't finished. Leading off the fifth inning with two outs, he turned on a down-and-in sweeper and launched his second homer of the night into the right-field seats. His eighth home run of the season extended Minnesota's lead to 5-3 and gave the Twins some much-needed breathing room. When that lead disappeared an inning later, Caratini stepped up with another huge swing. Following an hour-long rain delay, the veteran catcher turned on a 95-MPH fastball and drove it into the right-field seats for a game-tying home run that evened the score at 6-6. By the end of the sixth inning, Minnesota had already erased deficits three separate times. DEFENSIVE MISTAKES TURN THE GAME AROUND While the offense consistently responded, the Twins repeatedly undermined themselves defensively. Morris battled through a difficult opening two innings, in what was essentially a bullpen game. The rookie flashed electric velocity, touching 100.1 MPH for the second consecutive appearance, but needed 48 pitches to complete two innings and allowed two runs. Mike Paredes provided exactly what Minnesota needed after that. The right-hander retired the first six hitters he faced and cruised through three scoreless innings before running into trouble in the sixth. Even then, it appeared the Twins were in position to escape the inning relatively unscathed. Instead, everything unraveled. With two runners aboard and two outs, Anthony Banda entered to face Carter Jensen. Jensen ripped a double down the left-field line that scored two runs and tied the game. Moments later, Bobby Witt Jr. hit a routine pop-up behind second base that should have ended the inning. Neither Luke Keaschall nor Ryan Kreidler took charge of the play. The ball dropped untouched between them, allowing Jensen to score all the way from second and giving Kansas City a 6-5 lead. It was another frustrating defensive sequence for a team that entered the night coming off a three-error performance the day before. Minnesota was charged with multiple errors again Thursday, and several other miscues that didn't officially go into the scorebook proved equally costly. Those mistakes ultimately erased much of the excellent work provided by Paredes, who allowed just one earned run across 3 2/3 innings while keeping one of baseball's weakest offenses largely in check. THE ROYALS CAPITALIZE LATE After Caratini's game-tying homer in the sixth, both bullpens settled things down. Eric Orze worked around traffic in the seventh inning, while Yoendrys Gómez and Taylor Rogers combined to navigate the eighth. Minnesota had a chance to grab the lead in the bottom of the seventh after Buxton reached on an infield single, but the Twins couldn't push him home. That set the stage for the decisive ninth inning. Perez and Lane Thomas opened the frame with back-to-back singles against Rogers, forcing Minnesota to go back to the bullpen. Newly acquired Justin Lawrence entered with one out and immediately found himself in trouble. After a walk loaded the bases, Josh Rojas delivered a two-run single to center field that gave Kansas City an 8-6 advantage. Lawrence struggled to find the strike zone throughout the inning, throwing just 10 strikes among his 24 pitches, though he did eventually escape further damage by striking out both Jensen and Witt. Minnesota still had one final opportunity in the bottom of the ninth. Caratini opened the inning with a single, and Buxton later worked an eight-pitch walk to put the tying run aboard with two outs. That brought Brooks Lee to the plate. Lee has delivered in several big situations this season, but this time, he couldn't come through. The young infielder sharply grounded out to end the game, sealing another frustrating loss for a Twins team that spent most of the night battling back. In a game that featured four ties and multiple lead changes, it was ultimately defensive mistakes and a rough ninth inning that made the difference. After fighting their way back time and time again, the Twins simply couldn't complete one final comeback. What’s Next? The Twins and Royals are back at it tomorrow night for game two of the series. First pitch is set for 7:15 PM on Apple TV. Zebby Matthews will take the hill for the Twins, and it’ll be veteran right-hander Michael Wacha for Kansas City. Postgame Interviews Coming Soon! Bullpen Availability Chart SUN MON TUE WED THU TOT Paredes 60 0 0 0 50 110 Gómez 0 15 15 0 18 48 Orze 0 0 0 26 16 42 Laweryson 0 0 0 26 0 26 Banda 0 0 20 0 8 28 Adams 0 19 0 0 19 Lawrence 0 0 0 19 24 43 Rogers 0 0 0 12 11 23 Morris 0 0 18 0 48 66 View full article

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images For over 50 years, Major League Baseball teams operated with a four-man starting rotation. From roughly the 1890s through the early 1970s, that model was the standard across the sport. Pitchers would take the ball every fourth day (sometimes, early in that window, every third); work deep into games; and then be ready to go again after three days of rest. For a long time, it worked. But baseball eventually changed. Once MLB expanded to the now-standard 162-game schedule in the early 1960s, teams started realizing that relying on just four starters for an entire season was increasingly difficult. Arm injuries became harder to ignore, workloads became more demanding, and organizations slowly shifted toward a five-man rotation—not just because of the extra eight games, but because the league added eight teams in the 1960s. Expansion brought a bunch of new pitchers into the majors, which meant adding more guys who weren't good enough to start (or maybe even to pitch) in the smaller leagues previously. It might sound like going to more starters in response to that diffusion of talent would be counterproductive, but with that diffusion came democratization. Because everyone was suddenly (and, as it's turned out, permanently) short on pitchers, spreading the workload more to protect the arms of your best hurlers made sense. It didn't cost you much, in a relative sense, and after all, baseball is a zero-sum game. Not coincidentally, it was also in the early and mid-1970s that the players became much more powerful and much better-paid, via the advent of the MLB Players Association and free agency. Pitchers were better protected from losing their jobs due to injuries, at least without compensation, and teams stood to lose more cash by going through pitchers' arms as fast as they used to. For all those reasons, five replaced four. That eventually became the norm across the league, and it’s the structure baseball has operated with for the last several decades. Now, though, things appear to be evolving once again. More and more teams around baseball have started experimenting with six-man starting rotations, essentially allowing their starters to pitch just once a week. And recently, the Twins have joined that growing trend. The timing made sense. The Twins’ last off day came on May 21, and they won’t have another until June 8. That meant their rotation was staring down roughly two-and-a-half weeks without any built-in additional rest. That’s a dangerous game to play with any pitching staff, especially one that has already dealt with several injury concerns throughout the year. So instead of overworking their starters, the Twins adjusted. Over the last couple weeks, Minnesota has toyed with a six-man rotation consisting of Joe Ryan, Taj Bradley, Bailey Ober, Connor Prielipp, Zebby Matthews, and Kendry Rojas or Simeon Woods Richardson. Now, Rojas and Ober are hurt and Woods Richardson is back in the Blue Jays organization, but those don't seem to be related to this cautious usage. If anything, the balky elbows of Ober and Rojas demonstrate why this measure was needed—and why, even as they now navigate having too few reliable starters even to fill out a five-man stable, they're adding sixth days here and there via bullpen games like Thursday night's. For at least a couple of these guys, that extra day of rest appears to be making a real difference. Joe Ryan threw harder in his last start and cited some work between starts as the reason that was possible. Prielipp and Bradley are working deeper into games than they've ever consistently done, at any level of baseball. More importantly, it’s also helped keep this group on the field. Rojas landing on the 15-day injured list with triceps inflammation is obviously concerning, but beyond that, the six-man setup has eased the workload on a rotation that has already battled its fair share of health issues this season. Rojas is already throwing again, and on his way back via what the team expects to be a short ramp-up. Bradley has already had an IL stint. Ryan was pulled from a start after just nine pitches last month. Mick Abel is currently injured as well, and Prielipp’s injury history is extensive, dating back to college. This is not a pitching staff overflowing with durable, 200-inning workhorses. It’s a talented group, but it’s also one that probably benefits greatly from additional rest and workload management. Which raises an interesting question: should the Twins continue using a six-man rotation for the rest of the season? I’m going to say yes, and there are a couple of reasons why. The first is simple: the current setup is producing results. The pitching staff has looked significantly better recently. Starters are getting deeper into games, the overall group appears healthier, and the extra rest seems to be maximizing the effectiveness of the rotation. Even once the schedule begins including more off days later in the summer, protecting this pitching staff should remain the organization’s top priority. Manager Derek Shelton said that very thing in reference to the team's insistence on sliding back Prielipp's starts at times, to avoid ratcheting up his workload too quickly. The Twins are going to go as far as their pitching takes them this year. That’s just the reality of the roster construction. Keeping those arms healthy matters more than anything else. But there’s another reason why this setup makes sense, too, and it has to do with the bullpen. Because while the rotation has stabilized recently, the bullpen really hasn’t. Inconsistency has plagued that unit for much of the season, and asking relievers to constantly cover four or five innings every night simply hasn’t been sustainable. Having six starters alleviates some of that pressure. Right niw, of course, that formula isn't one they can put into action. They don't even have five healthy starters. Ryan, Prielipp, Matthews and Bradley are taking their turns, and the team is just trying to get to the next off day as they await the returns of both Abel and Rojas. Once those two come back, a six-man group becomes more feasible, but as the loss of Ober (even if it's only for a few weeks, as the team hopes) reminds us, there's no guarantee that other injuries will hold off while these heal. The Twins have something a lot of organizations don’t: legitimate pitching depth. And because of that depth, they’re uniquely positioned to make this kind of setup work long-term. Not every team can realistically survive with six starters. Some organizations barely have four reliable options. But the Twins have enough young arms, enough flexibility, and enough interchangeable pieces to consistently rotate guys in and out without completely disrupting the staff. That’s an advantage. And frankly, it’s one they should probably lean into as much as possible. Modern baseball is constantly evolving when it comes to pitcher usage. Teams are searching for ways to maximize performance while minimizing injuries, and the traditional five-man rotation no longer feels quite as safe as it once did. For the Twins specifically, a six-man rotation might simply make the most sense. The results have been encouraging, the staff looks fresher, and the workload distribution feels more manageable. With so many talented but injury-prone arms on the roster, giving everyone an extra day of rest could pay massive dividends over the course of a long season. At this point, there’s very little reason to abandon it. They just have to ride out the storm, hoping that they soon have enough healthy hurlers to enact it again. View full article

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints Minnesota Twins outfield prospect Kyler Fedko has been on an absolute tear to start the 2026 season. And really, it's been happening in every facet of the game. At some point, the conversation has to shift from simply acknowledging how well Fedko is playing to asking a much bigger question: when does he get a shot? Through his first 194 plate appearances with the St. Paul Saints, Fedko is hitting .286, with an outstanding .931 OPS. He's already launched 11 home runs, collected 23 extra-base hits, and added eight stolen bases for good measure. The production has been difficult to ignore. While his strikeout rate remains a little higher than ideal (roughly 22%), he's doing enough damage when he makes contact (and drawing enough walks) to offset those concerns. For a player whose game has become increasingly centered around power, the overall offensive profile has been extremely encouraging. The underlying batted-ball trends are interesting, as well. Fedko isn't the biggest player in professional baseball, but at 6 feet and 215 pounds, he's built like someone capable of generating legitimate power. More importantly, he's started leaning into those strengths. His fly-ball rate has increased by roughly five percentage points compared to where it was at Triple-A a season ago, and he's developed into a much heavier pull hitter. That's not always a positive for every player, but for someone with Fedko's strength and power potential, it appears to be part of a deliberate offensive adjustment. And so far, it's working. The biggest reason Fedko started generating attention within the organization last season was because of his sudden power breakout. In 2024, he hit just three home runs across 77 games. One year later, that number exploded to 28. Whenever a player makes that kind of leap, there's always a question of whether it's sustainable or simply a one-year outlier. But the fact that Fedko already has 11 homers this season suggests the power surge was no fluke. Instead, it looks like he has fully embraced a power-first approach at the plate, and the results certainly support that conclusion. Of course, what Fedko is doing offensively is only part of the story. There are a couple of other reasons why he deserves serious consideration for a major-league opportunity. The first is his defensive versatility. Fedko has logged extensive time at all three outfield positions this season and has yet to commit an error. On top of that, he's already recorded three outfield assists. That combination of reliability and arm strength gives the Twins flexibility in how they could deploy him. He appears capable of handling either corner-outfield spot, and he has enough experience in center field to provide coverage there, as well. For a team that values defensive flexibility, that's a significant advantage. The versatility doesn't stop in the outfield, either. Fedko has also seen limited action at both first base and second base. While those aren't likely to become his primary positions, the ability to move around the diamond only increases his value as a potential bench option or roster depth piece. There's also an argument that Fedko fills a different organizational need than many of the Twins' other upper-level outfield prospects. Much of the club's outfield depth is left-handed. Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner and (once he’s healthy) Alan Roden all hit from the left side, while top prospects Emmanuel Rodriguez, Walker Jenkins, and Hendry Mendez are left-handed hitters, as well. Fedko, meanwhile, bats right-handed, giving him a profile that is somewhat unique among the organization's current outfield options. That doesn't automatically make him a better prospect than those players, but it does make him an intriguing fit. If the Twins were looking to add another outfielder to the major-league roster, a right-handed bat with power, defensive versatility, and experience at Triple-A could complement the roster better than simply adding another left-handed hitter to the mix. One issue here is that Fedko is not currently on the 40-man roster. But if he continues producing at this level, the combination of his performance, age, and right-handed bat could make it increasingly difficult for the organization to keep him in St. Paul. If the Twins needed immediate outfield help, giving Fedko an opportunity now could make more sense than waiting for a younger prospect to finish developing. However, because he’s not on the 40-man roster, that means someone would have to go. The name that immediately stands out (in my mind) is James Outman. Outman hasn't provided much offensive production and has largely filled a role as a late-game defensive replacement and pinch-runner. While those skills certainly have value, it's fair to wonder whether Fedko's all-around game would provide more impact at this point. It's probably too early for the organization to move on from Wallner, and it seems unlikely the Twins would sacrifice pitching depth or infield depth given the current state of those groups. That's what makes the roster discussion complicated. But regardless of how the Twins ultimately choose to navigate it, Fedko is building an increasingly strong case for himself every day he stays in Triple-A. The offensive numbers are there, the power is real, and his defensive versatility is valuable. At 26 years old, Fedko has reached the point where the organization should seriously consider finding out whether his game can translate to the next level. If Fedko keeps performing the way he has through the first two months of the season, it feels less like a question of if he'll get his opportunity and more like a question of when. For now, all he can do is keep producing, and that's exactly what he's been doing. View full article

Kyler Fedko broke out massively in 2025, and he's continued that momentum so far this season. He's proving why he deserves a shot in the majors, and for multiple reasons. View full video

Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images For the first month and a half of the season, Austin Martin looked like one of the biggest success stories on the Twins roster. From Opening Day through the middle of May, Martin batted .333 and reached base seemingly every night. He drew more walks than strikeouts, posted a contact rate around 90%, and quickly established himself as one of the toughest hitters in baseball to get out. It wasn't just a nice story. It earned him a bigger role. With Matt Wallner struggling early in the season, Martin forced his way into everyday playing time in the Twins outfield. The former first-round pick was finally looking like the offensive catalyst the organization had hoped for when they acquired him. Lately, though, the production has disappeared. Over the last two and a half weeks, Martin is just 8-for-59, good for a .136 batting average. The plate discipline that fueled his breakout has also taken a step backward. After drawing walks at an elite rate for much of April and early May, Martin has drawn just two walks during that stretch despite remaining in the lineup almost every day. Quite frankly, he has looked like a completely different player. So what exactly is going on? There are probably a couple of different explanations. The first is fairly straightforward: the Twins aren't seeing nearly as many left-handed pitchers anymore. During the first 22 games of the season, Minnesota faced 13 left-handed starting pitchers. That's an absurd number, and one that happened to play directly into Martin's strengths. Even with his recent slump, Martin is still hitting .295 against left-handed pitching this season. More impressively, he’s drawn 16 walks while striking out only eight times against southpaws. Before he became an everyday player, Martin was largely deployed in favorable matchups against lefties. As his hot streak continued, the Twins expanded his role and began playing him against virtually everyone. The problem is that right-handed pitching has been a much different story. Martin is hitting just .243 against righties this year, and his ability to get on base has taken a significant hit. As Minnesota's schedule has shifted toward more right-handed starters, the weaknesses in his offensive profile have become more noticeable. That doesn't explain everything, but it's certainly part of the equation. The second reason is a little more concerning. While Martin's season-long plate discipline numbers still look excellent, the underlying trends suggest he's started drifting away from the approach that made him successful in the first place. His overall chase rate remains extremely low at roughly 18%, but that number has been climbing steadily over the past few weeks. More importantly, pitchers appear to have identified a specific weakness and have begun attacking it aggressively. Martin has struggled badly against pitches below the strike zone. His whiff rates on pitches that miss down-and-away and down-and-in are staggering, sitting at 71% and 63%, respectively. Pitchers have increasingly challenged him with breaking balls and off-speed offerings in those locations, and Martin hasn't consistently shown he can lay off them. Troublingly, too, he seems to have a pretty grooved swing: his contact rate is above-average within the zone but below-average outside it. Normally, you see that from power hitters—guys with big bat speed and a knack for pulling the ball in the air. Martin isn't that kind of player, so not being able to make contact outside the zone applies extra pressure to keep his swing decisions immaculate. To Martin's credit, he's aware adjustments are being made. "I've been getting attacked differently," Martin said Monday night, after a game in which he snapped an 0-for-18. "And it's on me to adjust to that." That's often how the game works. Martin spent the first six weeks of the season making pitchers pay for mistakes, but opposing teams eventually adjusted. Now, the challenge is making a counter-adjustment of his own. Martin believes the answer is staying committed to the process, rather than overhauling everything. "I definitely can feel the fact I haven't been on first base in a while," he said. "But at the end of the day, it's just a matter of not getting away from my approach." That mindset is probably the right one. Slumps happen. A rough two-and-a-half-week stretch doesn't automatically erase everything he accomplished during the first six weeks of the season. Still, it's fair to wonder whether expectations got a little ahead of reality. What if Martin isn't an everyday player? What if he's simply an extremely valuable platoon bat who thrives against left-handed pitching but struggles to provide the same production against righties? To some extent, that was the narrative around him entering the season, but his hot start put that to bed (at least temporarily). However, it now feels like a question that’s worth asking again. That doesn't mean the Twins have reached any conclusions. Martin still has plenty of time to turn things around, and this may be simply a cold stretch that will be forgotten by the end of the summer. But something has to change. The version of Martin the Twins saw in April was an impact player who consistently pressured opposing pitchers and found ways to reach base. The version they've seen recently hasn't provided nearly enough offensive production to justify everyday at-bats. With several left-handed-hitting outfield options continuing to perform in the minors, playing time against right-handed pitching could become harder to come by if the struggles continue. The good news for Martin is that the ball is still in his court. The league has adjusted, and now it’s his turn. View full article